Ethics complaint dismissed against Smith advisor who supports publicly funded well cleanup
In a Dec. 10 letter obtained by The Orchard, Ethics Commissioner (and UCP donor) Shawn McLeod says the Conflict of Interest Act doesn't apply to David Yager.
Alberta’s ethics commissioner has dismissed a complaint against an advisor to Premier Danielle Smith on a technicality.
The ethics complaint was filed by environmental law firm Ecojustice against David Yager in July on behalf of a rural Alberta landowner who was incensed by Yager’s role in developing a strategy that would effectively pay oil and gas companies to clean up their environmental liabilities, which they’re legally obligated to do on their own dime.
Yager, an oil and gas industry consultant who works as a “special adviser” to Premier Smith, sits on the board of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and has received several sole-sourced contracts from the government.
The request for investigation sent to the Office of the Ethics Commissioner (OEC) argues that Yager’s partisan connection to the premier and consultant work for industry put him in a conflict of interest in his role as an AER board member, and that his firm’s receipt of four consecutive sole-sourced contracts potentially violates the government’s Procurement and Sole-Sourcing Policy.
An archived version of his website from July 21, 2025 — the day before Ecojustice filed its complaint — includes a section entitled Political Activist, in which he boasted of his close ties to the premier, including taking credit for her decision to run for the Wildrose leadership in 2009 and being her campaign’s top fundraiser. That section no longer exists.
Another section, which remains up, describes Yager as a consultant for “clients in various facets of the upstream oil and gas industry,” via his company Yager Management Ltd.
Yager Management has received a combined $422,000 from the government through sole-source contracts. The most recent of which relate to developing and implementing a “Mature Asset Strategy,” which envisions the province purchasing inactive wells, producing whatever hydrocarbons remain and using those revenues to fund the wells’ decommissioning. He also produced a report on reforming the AER before he was appointed to its board and a secret report on Alberta’s energy future.
On Dec. 10, Ethics Commissioner Shawn McLeod wrote a letter to Ecojustice lawyer Susanne Calabrese, outlining his reasoning for why “Yager is not an individual that falls within the jurisdiction of the OEC.”
McLeod argues that since all of Yager’s work for the government consisted of contracts through his consultancy firm, Yager Management Ltd., there’s no indication he “is or was an employee holding a position in the Office of the Premier [emphasis in original],” as defined under the Conflicts of Interest Act.
Calabrese’s request for investigation describes Yager’s role with the AER as one of a “senior official of a public agency.” But McLeod argued that the act defines a senior official as the chair or CEO of the public agency, or anyone else who is specifically identified as a senior official by order in council.
McLeod added that his office has no jurisdiction to investigate violations of the Procurement and Sole-Sourcing Policy.
But McLeod’s impartiality on matters relating to the UCP government is highly questionable.
As has previously been reported, McLeod sought the UCP nomination for Edmonton-Riverbend in the 2019 provincial election and has donated more than $4,000 to the UCP since 2018.
In 2019, he contributed $2,000 to the party. A year earlier, he contributed $1,130 to the Edmonton-Riverbend constituency association and $93.75 to the St. Alberta community association.
At this time of his appointment in 2024, then-Globe and Mail columnist Kelly Cryderman cautioned that McLeod’s partisan ties would cast a shadow of doubt over any of his decisions relating to the ruling UCP.
“Perception matters,” Cryderman wrote. “If the public feels the system is rigged, they will continue to lose faith in the system.”
Ecojustice filed the complaint on behalf of Dwight Popowich, a farmer in Two Hills, Alta., who has had an inactive gas well in the middle of an alfalfa field on his property for the past 13 years.
In an interview, he called McLeod’s decision “disappointing but not unexpected,” adding that the commissioner’s office is using “smoke and mirrors” to present the illusion of government accountability.
“They’re not saying there is no conflict. They’re just saying, ‘We don’t have the right to investigate, so we’re not going to,’” said Popowich, “and to me, that’s probably the easy way out for them.”
He added that even if McLeod had initiated the investigation, “how much power does he have?”
The ethics commissioner is required to report his findings and recommendations to the Legislative Assembly. What to do with his conclusions is the government’s prerogative.
“Even if there was a ruling against Yager and all this, does it come to anything? We’ve already seen this government tarnished over and over again by various things that have happened in this province,” said Popowich, “and they’re still standing.”
In May 2023, McLeod’s predecessor, Marguerite Trussler, ruled that Premier Smith violated the Conflicts of Interest Act when she sought to pressure then-justice minister Tyler Shandro to interfere in the criminal prosecution of Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski for his role in egging on the Coutts blockade.
Trussler, whose report came out in the middle of the 2023 provincial election, declined to recommend any sanctions against Smith.
She did, however, recommend that all new MLAs be required to take training on the separation of powers in Canadian government and for ethics investigations occurring during an election to be paused until the election concludes.
After the election, the premier delivered a half-assed apology in the legislature, emphasizing that while she had “no ill intent,” her phone call with Shandro was an “error.”
Legislation that suspended ethics investigations during elections was passed in December 2023. But the same bill also updated the Conflicts of Interest Act to remove monetary limits on gifts to MLAs.
You can read McLeod’s letter dismissing the complaint against Yager below.
Israeli soldier detained and interrogated at the Canadian border for alleged war crimes
Guy Hochman, an Israeli reservist who came to Canada for a standup comedy show at a Jewish community centre, was detained and interrogated at the Toronto airport for six hours about his potential role in war crimes in Gaza.
According to the Times of Israel, Hochman was only allowed into Canada due to pressure from the Israeli Embassy, allowing his January 19 performance to proceed.
The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), which provided authorities with a 31-page report into Hochman’s activities in Gaza, took credit for Hochman’s detention, alongside Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights.
The Belgian non-profit, which is named after a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli soldiers alongside six of her family members and two paramedics sent to rescue her, pursues legal action internationally against Israelis suspected of committing war crimes.
Hochman, who was rejected by his former combat unit for reserve duty due to health concerns, was instead deployed to Gaza as an entertainer to create social media content for the Israeli military and boost morale.
His comedic stylings include calls for the killing of more than a million Palestinians, inciting the destruction of civilian infrastructure, advocating and participating in the blocking humanitarian aid, musing about dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza and defending the gang rape of Palestinian prisoners.
Some real funny stuff.
Read the HRF’s full report on Hochman’s activities here.